Saturday, 23 March 2013

TIPS ABOUT HAVING LUCID DREAMS

Dream interpretation is one area of interest to me. I have studied dreams before and from there, I gradually developed to love the world of dreams. Dreams tell us about many things about us especially those which are hidden deep inside ourselves. So many interpretations and meanings of dreams evolved as humankind continued to develop as well. One of its definitions is : DREAMS are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensationsthat occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, as well as a subject of philosophical and religious interest, throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology. Scientists believe that, in addition to humans, birds and other mammals also dream.

Dreams can last for a few seconds, or as long as twenty minutes. People are more likely to remember the dream if they are awakened during the REM phase. The average person has three to five dreams per night, but some may have up to seven dreams in one night. The dreams tend to last longer as the night progresses. During a full eight-hour night sleep, two hours of it is spent dreaming.

In modern times, dreams have been seen as a connection to the unconscious. They range from normal and ordinary to overly surreal and bizarre. Dreams can have varying natures, such as frightening, exciting, magical, melancholic, adventurous, or sexual. The events in dreams are generally outside the control of the dreamer, with the exception of lucid dreaming, where the dreamer is self-aware. Dreams can at times make a creative thought occur to the person or give a sense of inspiration. (Taken from WIKIPEDIA- the free encyclopedia)

As such, a wide world of things engulf the world of dreams. Interpretations as well may vary from one dreamer to the other. The art of remembering one's dreams comes out of one's ability to focus his mind on the story itself of the dream. During our sessions, we were told to bring one dream in the class and if one could have a hard time remembering and bringing a dream to class, he is asked just to bring along with him any story. From there, all of us, participants and mentors, helped in bringing related significance of the dream to the waking reality of the dreamer. Not all of us have the same capacity to dwell again on our dreams. However, experience would tell us that one's constant practice of remembering dreams enable him to bring back everything on a dream to the present moment.

Yet how could we remember lucid parts of our dream? To answer this query, I would share this research done by one dream author Marc VanDeKeere. He said,

"Increase your dream recall and write your dreams down in a journal. You cannot have lucid dreams if you cannot remember your dreams and keeping a journal is a crucial step towards solidifying your intent. By keeping the journal, your mind becomes saturated with the idea that dreams are important. Your dream journal will become one of the most frequently used tool sin your dreaming bag of tricks. If you have trobule recalling your dreams, then ry the following tips to increase your dream recall.

INCREASE DREAM RECALL

Upon awakening inn the morning, do not move. Stay in bed for a while and recall your dreams before you flood your mind with everything you are going to do for the day. If you have trouble remembering them try to change your position in bed: lie on your right side for a while, then your back then left: sometimes the position you where in when you had the dream helps increase recall of that dream.

BECOME FAMILIAR WITH YOUR DREAMS:

Get to know the places, things, and actions you see and do in your dreams (beaches, classrooms, roller coasters etc) " this is why a dream journal is so crucial in identifying your dream signs.

DO CONSISTENT REALITY CHECKS that is ask yourself frequently through out the day "Am I dreaming?" Do this regularly. This constant signals ensured that one would remember the reality check. When you ask yourself if you are dreaming, check your surroundings to see if in fact you are dreaming. Try to read something like a text or a street sign. The words or letters may look unstable, or they may have the tendency to change or morph into different letters and words entirely. Upon checking looking away and then looking back again, if the letters have altered then it is safe to assume that you are dreaming. "

Thus, the first step towards fulfilling a successful dream journey is to have mastered these steps to become familiar with the attributes and characteristics of one's dreams. Happy dreaming everyone.